Children’s rights are easy to rally around
No one knows what will come of committee’s report, though full compliance with recommendations is wishful thinking.
The writer is an international lawyer who has worked on human rights and humanitarian law projects in the US, Europe, Asia and Africa
Vatican is probably hoping that the publicity surrounding Pope Francis’s anniversary will drown out some of the less complimentary reportage that the Holy See has been deflecting of late. Church spin doctors have been working overtime recently, doing damage control in response to a report issued last week by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Vatican officials appeared in front of the committee about a month ago, to defend their implementation of the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), a major UN human rights treaty. Representatives from the Holy See were obligated to appear because they are among the 194 sovereign states that have ratified the convention, and ratification requires periodic reporting to the committee entrusted with enforcing the convention’s provisions.
Much of the Vatican’s appearance — and much of the committee’s report—dealt with ramifications from the child sexual abuse scandal that had rocked the Church in recent years. The committee recommended first and foremost that all ‘known or suspected’ child abusers be ‘immediately removed’ from the clergy ranks and that they be referred to legal authorities for investigation and prosecution. It also addressed some of the Church’s other doctrines, including those regarding homosexuality, abortion and contraception.
International legal scholars are already furiously debating the committee’s report, questioning whether it may have overstepped its mandate in addressing some of the Church’s moral teachings and speculating as to whether the committee is overestimating the Church’s jurisdiction over errant priests. Detractors who find fault with both the Catholic Church and the UN are quick to point out that the committee’s recommendations are non-binding and dismiss the CRC as toothless and irrelevant. But these critiques miss the point: an unpaid body of overqualified volunteers has managed to bring the Vatican to heel and succeeded in pressuring the Holy See to publicly address one of the Church’s darkest episodes, something neither law enforcement nor a well-organised victims’ lobby has yet been able to do. This is really nothing short of remarkable.
Human rights protections are notoriously hard to enforce for any number of reasons, including lack of political will by the perpetrators — who are often governments themselves. The UN’s treaty bodies are one imperfect methodology that has been developed to bring some small measure of accountability and public oversight to human rights treaties, ensuring that countries don’t just ratify conventions for the positive public relations they can garner by doing so.
The CRC is particularly well placed to be used for leverage in the human rights community’s unique brand of naming-and-shaming. Its subject matter is largely uncontroversial and it is very widely ratified (with Somalia and the United States the lone hold-outs among the UN’s member states and observers). The Catholic Church — all things considered — does do a great deal of philanthropic and charitable work around the world and has been an outspoken advocate for children’s rights. The Vatican can hardly demand that others live up to their international obligations when it is so publicly in contravention of its own.
No one knows what will come of the committee’s report, although full compliance with the recommendations is wishful thinking at best. But a ray of sunlight has broken through the Vatican’s wall of silence and for this alone, the treaty body process should be celebrated.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2014.
Vatican officials appeared in front of the committee about a month ago, to defend their implementation of the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), a major UN human rights treaty. Representatives from the Holy See were obligated to appear because they are among the 194 sovereign states that have ratified the convention, and ratification requires periodic reporting to the committee entrusted with enforcing the convention’s provisions.
Much of the Vatican’s appearance — and much of the committee’s report—dealt with ramifications from the child sexual abuse scandal that had rocked the Church in recent years. The committee recommended first and foremost that all ‘known or suspected’ child abusers be ‘immediately removed’ from the clergy ranks and that they be referred to legal authorities for investigation and prosecution. It also addressed some of the Church’s other doctrines, including those regarding homosexuality, abortion and contraception.
International legal scholars are already furiously debating the committee’s report, questioning whether it may have overstepped its mandate in addressing some of the Church’s moral teachings and speculating as to whether the committee is overestimating the Church’s jurisdiction over errant priests. Detractors who find fault with both the Catholic Church and the UN are quick to point out that the committee’s recommendations are non-binding and dismiss the CRC as toothless and irrelevant. But these critiques miss the point: an unpaid body of overqualified volunteers has managed to bring the Vatican to heel and succeeded in pressuring the Holy See to publicly address one of the Church’s darkest episodes, something neither law enforcement nor a well-organised victims’ lobby has yet been able to do. This is really nothing short of remarkable.
Human rights protections are notoriously hard to enforce for any number of reasons, including lack of political will by the perpetrators — who are often governments themselves. The UN’s treaty bodies are one imperfect methodology that has been developed to bring some small measure of accountability and public oversight to human rights treaties, ensuring that countries don’t just ratify conventions for the positive public relations they can garner by doing so.
The CRC is particularly well placed to be used for leverage in the human rights community’s unique brand of naming-and-shaming. Its subject matter is largely uncontroversial and it is very widely ratified (with Somalia and the United States the lone hold-outs among the UN’s member states and observers). The Catholic Church — all things considered — does do a great deal of philanthropic and charitable work around the world and has been an outspoken advocate for children’s rights. The Vatican can hardly demand that others live up to their international obligations when it is so publicly in contravention of its own.
No one knows what will come of the committee’s report, although full compliance with the recommendations is wishful thinking at best. But a ray of sunlight has broken through the Vatican’s wall of silence and for this alone, the treaty body process should be celebrated.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2014.